Last Quarter Moon
Last Quarter MoonImage credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.(large image)

Last Quarter in Gemini

Last Quarter on . The illuminated surface of the moon is 57% and getting smaller. The lunar cycle is 21 days old.

* The exact date and time of this Last Quarter phase is on 12 September 2009 at 02:16 UTC.

Moonrise and moonset

The moon rises at midnight and sets at noon. It is visible to the south in the morning.

Moon phases on nearby dates

Slide horizontally to discover the moon phase on nearby dates.

Upcoming main moon phases

Main moon phases of the following lunar cycle.

Moon phase and lunation details

Moon in ♊ Gemini

Moon is passing about ∠11° of ♊ Gemini tropical zodiac sector.

Hunter Moon after 22 days

Next Full Moon is the Hunter Moon of October 2009 after 22 days on 4 October 2009 at 06:10.

Neap tide

There is low ocean tide on this date. Sun and Moon gravitational forces are not aligned, but meet at big angle, so their combined tidal force is weak.

Apparent angular diameter ∠1941"

Lunar disc appears visually 1.8% wider than solar disc. Moon and Sun apparent angular diameters are ∠1941" and ∠1906".

Lunation 119 / 1072

The Moon is 21 days old and navigating through the last part of the current synodic month. This is lunation 119 of Meeus index or 1072 from Brown series.

Synodic month length 29.36 days

The length of this lunation is 29 days, 8 hours and 43 minutes and it is 2 hours and 6 minutes shorter than the upcoming lunation's length. The lengths of the following synodic months are going to increase with the lunar orbit true anomaly getting closer to the value it has at the point of New Moon at apogee (∠180°).

Lunation length shorter than mean

The length of the current synodic month is 4 hours and 1 minute shorter than the mean synodic month length. It is 2 hours and 8 minutes longer compared to 21st century's shortest synodic month length.

Lunar orbit details for

True anomaly ∠20.3°

The true anomaly of the Moon orbit at the beginning of this lunation cycle is ∠20.3° and at the beginning of the next lunar synodic month the true anomaly is going to be ∠39.3°.

Moon before perigee

11 days since point of apogee on 31 August 2009 at 11:04 in ♑ Capricorn the lunar orbit is getting narrow while the Moon is moving towards the Earth. It will keep this direction over the next 4 days until the Moon reaches the point of next perigee on 16 September 2009 at 07:55 in ♌ Leo.

Distance to Moon 369 251 km

The Moon is 369 251 km (229 442 mi) away from Earth and getting closer over the next 4 days until the point perigee when Earth-Moon distance is going to be 364 054 km (226 213 mi).

Moon before descending node

10 days after ascending node on 1 September 2009 at 03:18 in ♑ Capricorn the Moon is positioned north of the ecliptic over the following 3 days until the lunar crosses the ecliptic again from North to South in descending node on 14 September 2009 at 20:56 in ♋ Cancer.

Moon before northern standstill

13 days since the last southern standstill on 28 August 2009 at 20:17 in ♐ Sagittarius when the Moon has reached South declination of ∠-26.391° the lunar orbit is extending northward over the next day to face maximum declination of ∠26.289° at the point of next northern standstill on 12 September 2009 at 04:36 in ♊ Gemini.

Draconic month

10 days since the beginning of this draconic month in ♑ Capricorn the Moon is navigating from the beginning to the first part of the lunar cycle.

Syzygy in 7 days

In 7 days on 18 September 2009 at 18:44 in ♍ Virgo the Moon is going to be in a New Moon geocentric conjunction with the Sun and thus forming the next Sun-Moon-Earth syzygy alignment.

Lunar calendar

Sources and credits

Parts of this Lunar Calendar are based on Planetary Ephemeris Data Courtesy of Fred Espenak, www.Astropixels.com

Moon phase image credit to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio, svs.gsfc.nasa.gov